Projectile



Nov. 1, 1966 M BRISCOE 3,282,214

PROJECTILE Filed Dec 14, 1964 FEM H68 INVENTOR MADISON H. BRISCOE BYW/Wggew? ATTORNEYS Unite This invention relates to a new and improvedprojectile or bullet particularly suitable for hunting game.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a projectilewhich will inflict a highly effective wound on game and yet may bemanufactured with various constructions that may be reta-iled atcommercially competitive prices.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide aprojectile having a unique construction which upon striking a targetsuch as game, will cause the projectile to ultimately turn and travel ina broadside position, that is, transverse with [respect to the travelledpath of the bullet whereby the size and shock of the inflicted woundwill be substantially increased.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theattached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bullet representing a particularembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the bullet shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a sequence of movement of thebullet before and after it strikes a target;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view of the bullet illustrating various forceswhich act on the bullet soon after it strikes a target;

FIG. 5 is a front end view of the bullet shown in FIG. 1 after it hasentered the target and a nose portion thereof has been separated;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a bullet illustrating a second embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 7 is a front end view of the bullet of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 illustrating a modification of thebullet of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a side view of a bullet illustrating yet another modificationof the bullet of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9b is a side view of a bullet illustrating still anothermodification of the bullet in FIG. 6;

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of another embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 11 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a modification of theembodiment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is a longitudinal cross-sectional View of yet anothermodification of the embodiment of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of another embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 14 is a side view of another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 15 is a side view of yet another embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 16 is .a side view of the "bullet of FIG. 15 taken after the bullethas struck a target.

Referring to the drawings in detail, FIGS. 1 and 2 illusirate aparticular form of the invention wherein a bullet generally designated11) has a body 12 including an integral nose 14 formed from any suitablematerial such as lead or lead alloy. In the specific embodiment of FIGS.1 and 2, nose 14 is generally conical and diverges into a cylindricalportion 16 of the body which is formed with a hollow or cavity 18.Powder 20 is provided in cavity 18 and sealing the latter is a cartridgecase of suitable material including a cylindrical portion 22 surroundingand engaging body portion 16 and a base 24 disposed at the rear end ofthe body. A typical primer 26 is pro vided in base 24 of the case asshown in FIG. 2.

States Patent 0 In accordance with the present invention, nose 14 isweakened by a score line or groove 30 formed in its periphery so as todefine a plane which extends at an oblique angle to the longitudinalaxis of the bullet as best shown in FIG. 1.

Groove 30 is made sufiiciently deep so that when the bullet strikes thegame or target, a nose portion 32 will be sheared or separated from thebody along an oblique plane defined by groove 30 to thus present acorresponding oblique surface 34 (FIG. 5) at the leading edge of thebullet. Surface 34, because of its oblique disposition which results anunsymmetrical or uneven distribution of the area on the leading end ofthe bullet, will produce unbalance-d forces on the leading end of thebullet causing the bullet to turn in a broadside position with respectto the travelled path in the target such as designated by G in FIG. 3.

To brie-fly analyze the sequence of movement of the bullet after it isfired, reference is made to FIG. 3 wherein position A illustrates thecondition of the bullet as it is travelling to its target T whileposition B illustrates the bullet as it initially strikes target T. Inpositions A and B, the bullet is travelling in a rectilinear path and isalso spinning about its longitudinal axis. Upon striking target T, noseportion 32 is lost as described above, and referring for a moment toFIG. 4, there is diagrammatically illustrated in simplified fashion,forces which act on the bullet immediately after nose portion 32 hasbeen severed. The

driving force which impels the bullet forwardly is represented by Dwhile the reaction force exerted on the bullet by the target isrepresented by R. The vertical component R of reaction force R producesan unbalanced force on the leading end of the bullet causing the bulletto shift into the position designated C which extends at an obliqueangle with respect to the original path of movement of the bullet.However, since the bullet is also spinning about its longitudinal axis,leading surface 34 is also rotating and consequently changingorientation so that, for example, when surface 34 has rotated fromposition C, the vertical component R, of the reaction force will causethe bullet to shift into position E shown in FIG. 3. Thus, it will beapparent that the leading portion of the bullet will describe a circularpath as the bullet travels through its target. At the same time, therear end of the bullet will also describe a circular path, but of alesser diameter than that described by the leading end of the bullet.

Once the vertical component R of the reaction force has diplaced theleading nose of the bullet sufficiently from the rectilinear path, thebullet will abruptly turn to present its broadside to the target andwill continue to drive through the target in this position until itexits or its driving force is dissipated.

Thus, up to several times the original square area of the nose can bebrought to bear on the target.

In designing the size of the severa'ble nose portion 32, it is importantthat it not be made large enough to cause a substantial loss in thebullet mass. It should be only a small fraction of the complete bulletmass, since it is important to retain all the mass and hence, momentumand broadside area possible with the main body of the bullet for maximumbroadside effect. The examples shown are for many uses somewhatexaggerated for clarity. Additionally, it will be appreciated that thesize and angularorientation of the leading surf-ace 34 together with thevelocity, weight, construction, and overall shape of the bullet willdetermine how quick the bullet ultimately will turn in the broadsideposition. Accordingly, these factors may be varied to produce a desiredeffect. 1

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, another embodiment it) of the invention isshown wherein the bullet is preformed, that is, manufactured, with anunbalanced nose 4-2 including a leading surface 44 extending generallyobliquely to the longitudinal axis of the bullet but also being slightlyconvex as illustrated in FIG. 7. Alternatively, bull-let 49 as well asbullet 19 described above, could also be constructed so as to present aconcave leading surface which in FIG. 8 is illustrated as being made oftwo triangular sections Likewise, the leading surface may be formed witha partially conical shape such as illustrated at 47 in FIG. 9.

Another embodiment is shown in FIG. 9b with a nose that has, orutirna-tely will take on, an unsymmetrical shape having a more or lessfiat area (y) and at a right angle to tr e longitudinal axis (x) asopposed to the rest of the nose area.

Since the unbalanced nose 42 of the bullet of FIG. 6 will cause it togyrate while approaching the tar-get, the accuracy of this bullet issomewhat lessened. However, for certain applications where extremeaccuracy is not essential, the bullet of PEG. 6 will providesatisfactory results.

Turning to FIG. 10, there is shown another embodiment of the inventionwherein the severable nose portion 52 is formed separate from the bulletbody 54. Nose portion 52 has an oblique rear surface 56 which seatsagainst a matching surface 58 on the bullet body. Holding nose portion52 against body surface 53 is a generally conical cap 69 which receivesnose portion 52 in its closed end and extends onto a portion of thebullet body. A cylindrical jacket 62 is received on the remainingportion of the bullet body and suitably attached to cap as at 64- tothereby hold cap 6%) in place.

Sufficient-ly soft material is employed in forming cap 69 so that uponimpact with the target, cap 60 will rupture and deform to release noseportion 52 and present surface 58 of the bullet body which will thusbring about the broadside effect as described above. Rupture of cap 6%,may be facilitated by the provision of score lines or grooves (notshown) formed in the periphery of cap 69 in surrounding relationship tosurfaces 56 or 58.

FIG. 11 illustrates a modification wherein the jacket, 66, is employedto hold the severable nose portion, 68, on the bullet body prior tostriking the target. This is accomplished by lengthening jacket es so asto engage and hold the periphery of nose portion 68. In the bullet ofFIG. 11, open end portion 69 of jacket as is formed of a reducedthickness so that upon impact with the target, jacket portion 69' willmushroom or deform to release nose portion 68 and thereby presentoblique surface 76.

A further modification is shown in FIG. 12, wherein the jacket '74 isprovided with an internal partition 76 extending obliquely between theopposite side walls of the jacket rearwardly or forward jacket portions7 8. Nose portion 8% is held against partition 7e by jacket portions '78which, upon striking the target, will deform to release nose portion 8%and present partition 76 as the leading, unsymmetrical, surface of thebullet. Additionally, in this embodiment, nose portion 8t? is recessedat S ll and jacket portions 7 8 are received in recess 81 in flushrelationship with the tip of nose portion 80.

In the modification of FIG. 13, nose portion 90 is comprised of twoparts, namely, a wedge piece 92'seated against a correspondingly shapedoblique surface 93 formed on the bullet body 94; and a rivet or pin 96which extends through wedge piece 92. into the bullet body 94 to holdwedge piece 92 in position. Pin 96 is formed from relatively softmaterial so that upon impact with the target, the stem 9% of pin 96 willshear to release wedge piece 92 and thus prevent the oblique surface 93of the bullet body.

FIG. 14 illustrates another embodiment of the invention wherein a bulletltltl has a jacket 101 secured about da soft core 102, which extends outof the jacket at the nose 163. On one side side of the jacket 101 wherethe soft nose protrudes at 103 a cut, cuts or weakened area 164 isprovided so that upon striking the tar-get the soft nose will upset inan unsymmetrical, oblique surface because of the weakened side of thejacket.

FIG. 16 illustrates yet another form of the invention wherein a bulletElli is weakened by a U shaped groove 112 which extends into theeriphery of the bullet body along the sides of and around the nosethereof to define a plane generally parallel to the longitudinal axis ofthe bullet. Groove 112 is made sufiiciently deep and termina-tes at 1-14short of the rear end 116 of the bullet so that upon impact with atarget, a portion 124 ofv the bullet will sever from the body alonggroove f ll and be deformed outwardly as shown in FIG. 16. The forces ofresistance acting on deformed bullet portion 120 will thereafter causethe bullet to rotate clockwise (as viewed in 16) into the desiredbroadside position.

As will be apparent to persons skilled in the art, various modificationsand adaptations of the structure a-bove described will become readilyapparent without departure from the spirit and scope of the inventionwhich is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A bullet comprising a body portion and a leading end portiongenerally at the forward end of the body portion, and means forseparating said body portion and said leading end portion alongcomplementary surfaces upon impact with a tar-get, the surface ofseparation of said body portion being such that an unbalanced surfacearea is presented on the forward end portion of said body portioncausing the bullet to turn into a broadside position in the target afterseparation of the leading end portion.

2. The bullet as defined in claim 1 wherein said body portion has ahollow core charged with powder and there is provided a cart-ridge caseon the rear end of the body portion closing said core.

3. The bullet defined in claim ll wherein said surface of separation ofsaid body portion extends generally obliquely to the longitudinal axisof the bullet.

4. The bullet defined in claim 1 wherein part of said un-balancedsurface area is rounded and part is flat and generally at right anglesto the longitudinal axis of the bullet.

5. The bullet defined in claim 1 wherein said leading portion is formedseparately from said body portion and wherein said means includes ahollow jacket secured 'on said body portion and having a portionengaging the external surface of said leading portion.

6. The bullet defined in claim 1 wherein said surface of separation ofsaid body portion is a partition interconnecting sidewalls of the body.

7. The bullet defined in claim 1 wherein said means includes a caphaving one end enclosing said leading portion and another end fixed tothe body portion.

8. A bullet comprising a body having a nose on the leading end thereof,and frangible means for causing a portion of said leading end toseparate from the body when the bullet strikes a target and thereaftercausing an unsymmetrical surface to be presented on the leading end ofthe body thereby creating unbalanced result-ant forces of resistanceacting upon said unsymmetrical surface to cause the bullet to turn andtravel broadside into the target, said frangible means including aportion formed integral with said body and nose, and said body having agroove formed in the periphery thereof generally defining the peripheryof said unsymmetrical surface to be presented.

9. A bullet having a body and means on the leading end of said body forcausing the bullet to travel into a broadside position in a target, saidmeans including a .groove in the leading peripheral surface of said bodydimensioned to cause a leading portion of said body to sever from theremaining portion of the body upon impact with the target.

UNITED References Cited by the Examiner STATES PATENTS Wilson 102-52Hammer 10253 Wes-nel- 10252 Moore 10292.5

Studler 10=292.5

6 Studler et a1. 102-52 Schreiber 10292.5 Lyon 10252 Barry 10 2-7FOREIGN PATENTS of 1898 Great Britain.

Great Britain.

0 BENJAMIN A. BORC'HELT, Primary Examiner.

R. F. STAHL, Assistant Examiner.

1. A BULLET COMPRISING A BODY PORTION AND A LEADING END PORTIONGENERALLY AT THE FORWARD END OF THE BODY PORTION, AND MEANS FORSEPARATING SAID BODY PORTION AND SAID LEADING END PORTION ALONGCOMPLEMENTARY SURFACES UPON IMPACT WITH A TARGET, THE SURFACE OFSEPARATION OF SAID BODY PORTION BEING SUCH THAT AN UNBALANCED SURFACEAREA IS PRESENTED ON THE FORWARD END PORTION OF SAID BODY PORTIONCAUSING THE BULLET TO TURN INTO A BROADSIDE POSITION IN THE TARGET AFTERSEPARATION OF THE LEADING END PORTION.